An official from the Anbar province, which is located about 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of the Iraqi capital, said that the central government in Baghdad is trying to punish the province over the protests that have been taking place for months against government policies by depriving it of the proceeds from one of the most important border crossings in the country.
The head of Anbar’s Provincial Council, Jassim al-Halbusi, told Al-Monitor that the central government, which oversees the management of Iraq’s border crossings, asked the administration of the Trebil border crossing — linking Iraq and Jordan — at the beginning of this month “to tighten procedures for inspecting cars and trucks that use this crossing. This led to a decline in traffic at this crossing, as well as a decline in its revenues, of which the province receives five percent.”